Autumn Statement 2011: 29 November

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, made a financial statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 29 November 2011, known as the Autumn Statement.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, delivered his Budget Statement on 23 March 2011 on the state of the national finances, Government's proposals for changes to taxation and growth forecasts.

The Autumn Statement provides the Chancellor an opportunity to update MPs on the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) growth forecasts for the UK economy and the public finances.

The OBR has published revised growth forecasts for the economy and the Government's targets for public borrowing and debt on Tuesday 29 November. Further information on the OBR forecasts can be found on its website.

http://budgetresponsibility.independe...

The House of Commons Library has produced a briefing paper on the Background to the 2011 Autumn Statement.

http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-pap...

Why is there an Autumn Statement?
The Government is legally required to publish a financial report on the state of the economy twice a year. From December 1976 until November 1992, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made an Autumn Statement to the House of Commons in addition to the annual Budget Statement in the Spring.

The Spring Budget and the Autumn Statement were merged and a "unified-Budget" was presented to Parliament in November 1993. The unified-Budget was then replaced in 1997 with the traditional Spring Budget and the publication of a new Pre-Budget Report in the autumn.

The coalition government announced in September 2010 that it would replace the Pre-Budget Report with an Autumn Statement. The new Autumn Statement includes UK economic growth forecasts produced by the newly-created Office for Budget Responsibility.